Tables and Arrays

Maple uses the "table" type for collections of information in a tabular
form. It is similar to records or structures found in other programming
languages. Each entry has an index and a value; you use the table
function to create a table and optionally initialize it.  For example:

> tab := table([key=100, name=joeuser, address=mit]); 
tab := table([
           key = 100
           name = joeuser
           address = mit
       ])
> tab[name];
joeuser
> tab[phone] := `x0-0000`;
tab[phone] := x0-0000
> tab;
tab
> op(tab);
table([
    phone = x0-0000
    key = 100
    name = joeuser
    address = mit
])

The example shows that tables are one of Maple's exceptions to the use
of full evaluation.  Tables, arrays, and procedures use what is referred
to as "last name evaluation".  In essence, variables access these
objects by reference, not by value.  To directly access the value (to
copy it, for instance), you need to use the op function described
earlier.

An array is much like a table, except that you specify an integer range
of subscripts. For example:

> arr := array(1..2, 1..2);
arr := array(1 .. 2, 1 .. 2, [])
> arr[1,1] := 1: arr[2,2] := 2:
> print(arr);
[     1      arr[1, 2] ]
[                      ]
[ arr[2, 1]      2     ]